Monday is a holiday in Australia but the court will open especially to hear the case

Sauber says that it will defend the court action launched by Giedo van der Garde in the Supreme Court of Victoria.

Van der Garde is hoping that the Australian court will force Sauber to follow a recent arbitration ruling in Switzerland, and allow him to race. The case will be heard on Monday.

“As this matter is currently before the courts it would be inappropriate for me to comment on specific details,” said team boss Monisha Kaltenborn. “However, we will take all necessary steps to protect our company, this team and its interests.

“Last year was a challenging time for us but going into the 2015 season we have been focused on putting steps in place to ensure that we are delivering the best outcomes for F1’s fans.”

In its statement the team explained the Swiss court decision – and spelled van der Garde’s name incorrectly: “In a first partial award of a Swiss arbitral tribunal, the application of Mr van der Garde was upheld, with the tribunal relevantly ordering Sauber to refrain from taking action the effect of which would be to deprive Guido van der Garde of his entitlement to participate in the 2015 Formula One season as one of Sauber’s two nominated race drivers. Mr van der Garde has this week brought an application before an Australian court in Melbourne, the city hosting the first Grand Prix of the 2015 season on Sunday, March 15, to enforce that arbitral award. next week, March 9.”

I have no idea why Sauber is gearing up to contest the court action on Monday. There is no possible upside to this. The team’s sponsors and partners do not want to read news media headlines that begin with “Sauber team in court”. Sponsors pay for sporting headlines, not controversy.
F1 team bosses have not come out of recent court cases looking like shining beacons of probity (see Jordan Grand Prix vs. Vodafone, where a high court judge had some pretty pointed things to say about the credibility of Jordan’s witnesses).
Sauber signed Felipe Nasr and Marcus Ericsson for 2015 in order to collect enough income to get them through the Winter. They did what they had to do to survive. Unfortunately, they also have been told by an arbitrator that they broke a driver contract in the process. The best way out of this is to settle with the driver and move on. Giedo Van Der Garde has a 100% record in F1-related litigation, which suggests that he and his advisers know their way around contracts.

We’ve all been told (or lead to believe) that F1 contracts aren’t worth the paper they’re written on. Unless you’re willing to slit your own future’s throat by contesting issues such as this.

I understand the guys disappointment, but it’s not like the team hired a driver and are paying him. What does he gain by running this through the legal system, other than total wariness from other future employers?

In any normal commercial situation, where teams would employ a driver and pay the driver, Giedo Van Der Garde would not be on any team shortlists. F1 is not in a normal commercial situation right now. Several teams desperately need money. Would LotusF1 have hired Carmen Jorda if they did not need cash?
Giedo Van Der Garde will be attractive to back marker F1 teams as long as he dangles the prospect of large sums of money in front of them.

I agree gshevlin, and by the same token, when a paydriver with a bigger budget comes along and displaces another pay driver in GvdG’s circumstance, what basis of damages can he claim? Yes a contract was broken, you wouldn’t take my money and found a richer suitor instead? It’s the risk he ran and lost out on.

The entire concept is sickening and symptomatic of the illness F1 is currrently suffering from.